Bisbee Tombstone and Boot Hill in Arizona

Bisbee Tombstone and Boot Hill in Arizona evoked images of the wild west that we just had to explore!

How could we resist a visit to towns that are so rich in the history of our country? As soon as we realized that we were a short-ish drive from Tucson to Bisbee, Tombstone and Boothill we knew we absolutely needed to walk the streets that outlaws and lawmen did in days of old. We had grown up watching lots of westerns in movies and TV and wanted to take that leap back in time.

Bisbee AZ

Bisbee is a thriving and charmingly delightful town south of Tombstone. Though today the streets are paved with macadam, it was easy to imagine dusty dirt roads with hitching posts and horses tied up where cars were parked. The downtown area is in the valley and surrounded by mountains. And those mountains are brimming with homes built up the sides of those high hills. It was so picturesque that we kept snapping photos from ever angle.

Tombstone AZ

O.K. Café

We had worked up quite an appetite by the time we got to our next stop on the day’s itinerary. So before we did any sightseeing we decided to have some vittles at the O.K Café. It was a cute place with an endearing buffalo head hanging on one wall. Made us feel like we had gone back in a time machine. But we were happy to see that the menu reflected today’s palate. We were both hungry for burgers and the O.K. Café had several to choose from.

Our lunch

Steve ordered the Blue Cheese Buffalo Burger with Bacon and a side of exceptionally yummy fries. I opted for a Buffalo Burger with Pepper Jack, bacon and buttery avocado slices. Our lunch was a very unexpected treat. Usually in tourist attractions the food is very mediocre, but this place was definitely the exception to the rule. Tummies sated we headed out to explore more of Tombstone.

Tombstone history

The town of Tombstone is probably one of the most well known places in the old west. It evokes images of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. There were many dramatic events that made Tombstone famous. To name a few there was the silver boom, the great fire and the most famous of all, the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

According to Wikipedia, “the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a 30-second shootout between lawmen led by Virgil Earp and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cowboys including Ike Clanton that occurred at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, United States.” The gunfight resulted in the deaths of 3 participants, Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton. In addition Virgil and Morgan Earp were wounded and Doc Holliday was grazed by a bullet.

Movie date with Daddy

I was 10 years old when the move Gunfight at the O.K. Corral came out starring Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday. I’m not sure whether or not my mom wanted to see the movie. But Daddy invited me on a Father/Daughter Date! I remember being so excited and feeling very grown up. We went to the Hot Shoppe for dinner first and then we went to the movies. That was a very long time ago, but I still remember that evening with great fondness. So there was no way that I could miss standing in the very same spot where this historic shoot out took place!

Boothill Graveyard and Jewish Memorial

From Tombstone we headed out of town and came upon the Boothill Graveyard and Jewish Memorial. What intrigued us about Boothill was that there was a Jewish memorial there. Obviously we needed to stop and have a look see.

This Tombstone cemetery gives silent testimony to the hardships of Western frontier life. The people buried there were housewives, painted ladies, outlaws, gamblers, miners, business men and women, blacksmiths, cowboys, and those who died with their boots on. Among those interred there are Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury of OK Corral gunfight fame, Dutch Annie, the Queen of the Red Light District, Quong Kee and other famous and not so famous residents that contributed to Tombstone’s early history.

By the 1920s Boothill had fallen into ruin. It was restored from early burial records by Tombstone citizens in the late 1920s

Graveyard

The Boothill Graveyard made our imaginations run wild with images of lawmen, outlaws and vigilantes. Entire families were buried together in rock covered graves. The markers were simple made of wood that were painted white with black lettering telling their stories. Walking through the rows of gravesites and reading the various marker one could learn a lot about life and death in the wild west.

Jewish Memorial

In a separate area there is an area that is set aside for a memorial to Jewish pioneers and their Indian friends who helped form the small towns in Arizona. It was nice to see our heritage recognized in the history of creating this wonderful country of ours.